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Guacamole and Zingy Bean Dip

Disclaimer: it’s hard enough to make guacamole photogenic, but when it comes to a brown-coloured bean dip it’s pretty much impossible.

And with my camera skills we’re not off to the best start anyway. But please believe me when I say, if you could taste these two dishes you would be running out to the shops to stock up on pinto beans and forage for ripe avocados (Good luck to you on that last part, by the way. Like, seriously. I had a last minute panic on Thursday night because the 6 avocados someone picked out in the shop were all rock hard, so shoved them in a dark cupboard inside a brown paper bag snuggled up with some ripe bananas. I can’t say the results the next day were astounding, but it did the job well enough).

Anyway, I digress. I made these dips as accompaniments to the Mexican meal we had on my birthday last Friday, but feel free to have these with whatever meal you fancy. Personally, I could eat guacamole straight from the bowl. Sack that actually – just give me a ripe avocado, salt and a spoon and I’m in heaven.

There are so many variations of guacamole out there, so this is just my personal taste. I like my guacamole with bags of flavour from other ingredients aside from avocados and enough lime juice to keep a crew of sailors healthy. The bean dip originally came from our lovely friend Julia and is perfect served with tortilla chips and one (or two) margaritas.

Method
1. Halve the avocados and remove the stone. Scoop out the avocado flesh with a spoon – this should be pretty easy if the avocados are ripe. Mash in a large bowl with a fork
2. Finely chop the red onions, garlic, chilli and coriander and mix into the mashed avocado.
3. If you can be bothered, skin the tomatoes. I think this gives a nicer texture to the guacamole, but is definitely not essential. Do this by dropping the tomatoes into a pan of boiling water for 30 seconds and then peeling back the skin – again this should be pretty easy if the tomatoes are ripe. Remove the seeds (also not essential but will avoid a sloppy texture), chop and add to the guacamole.
4. Mix in the juice of one lime and season generously with salt and pepper. Adjust the balance of lime, salt and pepper to taste.
If you’re not serving this immediately then pour over the juice of half a lime in order to stop the guacamole browning, cover in cling film and pop in the fridge. Definitely eat on the day of making.

Method
1. Skin the tomatoes following the instructions in the recipe above.
2. Chop the spring onion, garlic cloves and herbs.
3. Drain the beans and add all the ingredients to a large bowl or blender. Liquidise or blend, depending on what equipment you have to hand. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

I had a really wonderful birthday, made so special by the company, the fabulous presents, the (strong) margaritas expertly made by dad…
…and this spectacular chocolate cake made by the ridiculously talented Kirsten…
Still dreaming about that buttercream filling…